My first attempt at ghost fic! I don’t have an AO3 so gotta post it here. I will probably try to continue it at some point!
Yesterday, I had been summoned for an “important discussion” by the ever critical and imposing Sister Imperator just after my normal working hours were over. To my surprise, when I arrived Papa Nihil was also present, standing beside Sister, but he did not look happy which made me even more worried than I had been about whatever Sister wanted to say.
“He’s here!” Sister Imperator announced, bringing Papa’s scowl in my direction as I came through the tall doors and approached them. I felt my heart rate increase and my palms grow sweaty as my mind ran through all the things they might want to say to me so urgently as I nervously greeted the pair, who shared a meaningful look and stepped away for a moment, grumbling to each other. After a moment, Sister Imperator stepped forward again and shocked me with her next words, “Cardinal, as our next senior most member behind Papa Emeritus III, you have now been assigned to the Ghost project and will be replacing him on tour in the next couple of months. I suggest you begin preparing yourself immediately.”
“I’m sorry, what?” I asked, thinking I must’ve misunderstood her.
“Surely you heard me, Cardinal. I said, you will be replacing Papa Emeritus III on the upcoming tour.” She scolded.
I began to panic. Me? She wanted me to go on stage and perform for all those people? Papa III is very charismatic, good looking, outgoing, and everyone loves him. But me? I knew I was rather awkward man with poor people skills. The upper clergy never hesitated to let me know this on the occasions I gave sermons or spoke in meetings. Plus, I was only a cardinal, not Papa. It has only ever been Papa who performs with the band. However, one does not say “no” to Sister and Nihil. “I, ah-, Thank you? I just have one question though, I thought only the current Papa was the uh- the front man? I am only a Cardinal as you know and I can’t imagine that Papa will just step aside?” I asked, holding my breath in fear of an angry reply.
To my surprise she replied gently, with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes, “Oh Cardinal, do not concern yourself with that. Everything will fall into place. Go upstairs and get fitted for your new suits and we will discuss this more later.” Her cryptic response did not really answer any questions, but I didn’t want to try my luck with her seemingly good mood, so I nodded at her and Papa Nihil then turned on my heel to find the tailor. After all, she said we would talk more about it later.
Now, I had just finished my work for today and was hoping to find Papa III, affectionately called Terzo by most of us here in the ministry. Despite technically being my boss, he is one of my best friends. He seemed to sort of ‘adopt’ me since the day I joined this church. His outgoing and talkative nature made him easy to be around and he has always been patient with me and reassured me when things made my anxiety spike or made me stutter.
“Do not worry!” He would say, when I worried about giving a sermon or whatever I worried about, while patting my back. “You know what you’re talking about. You didn’t get to be Cardinal by accident. You say something a little bit wrong, Terzo will help you fix. Nobody argues with Papa right? It will be fine!”
I smiled to myself as I turned the corner approaching the door to his room. Yes, he will know what to say. He is bound to know what is going on, considering he would have to be leaving the band, and he could explain to me in a much less nerve wracking way than Imperator. Perhaps he’d even give me some tips, what I should practice, what to look out for, and other details like that since he has done it so many times. Although I don’t have a clue why they would want /me/ to replace him, and I did not feel confident I could actually do it, I knew I’d feel better after a better explanation of what to expect so I could prepare myself as much as I could.
Terzo’s door was open, so I decided to just go in. “Terzo! Where are you? I was hoping we could talk about something!” I called out as I dropped onto his couch, propping my feet up on the coffee table while being careful to avoid the bottle of wine and mostly empty wine glass beside it. Seconds passed with no reply, the only thing breaking the silence was the ticking of a grucifix shaped clock on the wall. “Terzo? Are you here?” I called again, craning my neck around searching the room for signs of him. Surely if he was in the bathroom I would have heard the water running by now right?
I got up and saw the bedroom door wide open, with the bed unmade and unoccupied. Turning to the bathroom door, it was opened a crack, but the light was off. I pushed it the rest of the way open just to double check, but found nothing as I expected.
Returning to the living area, I gave one more glance around for any hint to where he may have gone but found nothing but a rock music magazine opened to a full page photo of Terzo in his papal ropes and mitre, holding a mic apparently at a ritual. I glanced at the article to see if it happened to mention any upcoming appearances I could’ve forgotten about but it seemed to just be an article praising his latest album and discussing the song he won a Grammy for.
“Hmmf. I guess he’s not here. Asshole,” I said to myself and made my way out of his rooms, dinner on my mind. I texted him that i was looking for him and headed toward the kitchen, but was stopped in my tracks when I nearly ran right into Sister Imperator.
“Oh! Eh, sorry about that sister, I uh, I was just texting Terzo,” I said holding my phone up to explain why I wasn’t looking where I was going, “I was looking for him, so he could- eh, so maybe he could give me some tips? For my upcoming assignment. Would you happen to know where he is?” I asked hopefully, avoiding eye contact in case she was angry with me for nearly running her over.
“Cardinal, you need to get your head out of your ass if you want to be ready for this assignment.” I cringed internally as she continued, “Look where you are going. Papa Emeritus III is in the mortuary. You won’t find him here,” she said sternly turning to walk off.
The mortuary? Weird. What business did he have there? I wondered to myself. At least I knew where he was now. “Sister!” I said as I turned on my heel and walked quickly to catch up with her, “do you know when he will be back?” I questioned, walking in stride with her. She stopped and turned to me, giving me a peculiar look, like I had two heads or something. My eyes immediately went to the floor.
“He is in the MORTUARY, Cardinal. He will not be back. Surely you know what the mortuary is?” She rolled her eyes and continued walking, but my mind was reeling trying to comprehend what she just said. He will not be back? He couldn’t be dead, could he? He was perfectly healthy! I began to panic.
“Sister what do you mean?! He won’t be back? He was perfectly fine a couple days ago, we had dinner and drinks together!” I said, my voice becoming higher with nerves, while I ran to catch up and lightly grabbing her arm with a shaking hand.
She turned to me with a scowl this time, shaking my hand off her arm, “Really Cardinal? You really ought to think about what you say. I thought I made it clear. That useless man is dead. Since this morning.” She replied nonchalantly and walked off, her heels clicking and echoing as she left. I felt the world start spinning around me, and I stumbled to the wall for balance. How could this be? Why? Why didn’t anyone say anything before, he was the highest ranking member of our church, all the other former Papas were retired thus no longer as powerful. I felt my throat begin to close as my mind absorbed the fact I’d never see my friend again, never talk to him, never joke around over pizza and video games on unoccupied week nights, never hearing his reassuring words that I’m sure helped me achieve my position without having a mental breakdown.
I slid down the wall and sat on the floor with my knees to my chest and my head in my hands. Was this planned all along? I wondered to myself, needing to find a reason for his death. Did they know when they told me I’d replace him that Terzo would die? Closing my eyes I tried to control my breathing and avoid passing out in the hallway for some poor ghoul to find. I wiped a tear from my face and inhaled sharply as a thought entered my head. Sister Imperator seemed very nonchalant about the situation, and it made me very suspicious she had something to do with this. I always knew she was catty and enjoyed having power, but I didn’t think she would stoop so low as to kill others, especially not the son of her not so secret former lover.
I had to find out why. I needed to. I tried to collect myself as much as I could and staggered to a stand, taking a deep breath before making my way to the church mortuary.
